KITCHENS THAT COOK

The kitchen is the heart of the home. A well-designed kitchen makes cooking and eating an everyday pleasure. An eat-in table often doubles as the location for homework and craft projects. Family time and interaction with friends is enhanced and encouraged through thoughtful design solutions. A sense of warm, fuzzy “community” can be established there, inviting participation and cultivating memorable experiences.

Today’s kitchen can be very sustainable. Incorporating the newest technology can reduce consumption of natural resources including energy, water and trees. Substantially more efficient appliances, ventilation and lighting have become available. Induction heating is likely to replace gas as it is even more responsive, and more energy efficient. As a healthier alternative to microwaves, in-counter and in-wall steamers can regenerate, defrost, steam cook and boil foods, retaining most nutrients. Ergonomic advances like hydrolics make cooking areas more easily accessible. New “Green” materials for cabinetry and surfaces are being introduced. We can expect a kitchen built today to last 15 or more years.

The current interest in home-grown food, organic food and nourishment have changed the thinking about kitchen design too. Authenticity of ingredients are desirable both as building materials and sustenance, enhancing wellbeing, health and longevity. New equipment makes composting and re-cycling easier, hence more appealing. LED greenhouse lighting and hydroponics may lead the way to in-kitchen gardens.

All of this is just becoming available state side. As it becomes more general use, prices should fall making these advances more available to everyone.  The kitchens below were designed before these advances, but I’m keeping up to date on every new alternative and ready to use the knowledge I’ve gathered.

THE HEART OF THE HOUSE

Ultimately 3 condo units made up this residence for a growing family with 5 young children when we started, now 7.

As the second interior designer hired on the project, I inherited the perimeter cabinetry layout and the lighting in this kitchen along with an empty space between rooms.  They needed an island, but to retain the area as a passage space.  Storage was already ample, but work surface was required. The clients were delighted with this island solution.  Right in the middle of the 3 units, this island is truly the heart of the entire residence.

ROOM WITH A VIEW

Nearly every wall in this condo was removed, and a totally new plan developed.  Bringing daylight and the spectacular view into the kitchen was a priority that required designing a kitchen that would be visible from the living room.  A tile border inset in the undulating concrete walls (seen in other photos) leads a visitor from the front door to the kitchen where the tile expands to become the backsplash.  Colors throughout the residence are repeated in the random tile pattern.  

The program required a sub-zero side-by-side refrigerator, dishwasher, double sink, electric oven, gas cooktop and loads of storage.  Squeezing all of this into the tiny space available was a challenge.  Existing maple floors were extended from the living room into the dining room and kitchen (wood is gentler on the feet and spine than tile for standing) helping the space to visually flow from room to room.  Lighting was chosen to maximize light on work surfaces (no dark corners or cabinet interiors) and enhance the warm maple of the cabinetry and floors.  Electrical outlets are hidden in a space designed into the bottom of the custom cabinetry so that nothing interrupts the "artwork" of the backsplash.  Under cabinet lighting is also concealed there.  

Cabinetry was lowered to 30" at the window wall providing a work surface more convenient for the height of the owner, and better access to the view.  The red "tongue" functions as a drawer pull, and offers even lower work surface.  

WINNETKA, IL KITCHEN

When I originally designed this kitchen, it was installed in another area of the home.  Several years later, when a major addition was done, we re-used the existing cabinetry and added to it to complete the new kitchen, saving resources and dollars.  The stone for the backsplash was selected early, and the custom pattern developed later, taking the available space between upper and lower cabinetry and window into consideration.  Under cabinet lighting was pre-designed into the underside of the upper cabinetry and pendants illuminate the 2-level peninsula. Concrete work surface is at the same height inside the kitchen, while a higher surface makes up the bar where breakfast is served to 3 boys.  A smooth collaboration between clients, architects, contractor and designer made this project a pleasure.

MICHIGAN RETREAT KITCHEN

Clients opted for a Bulthop kitchen in this lakefront retreat.  My job was to coordinate materials and lighting, help select hardware and barstools which are the same design as the dining room chairs.  Beautiful dark wood floors contrast nicely with the unusual pear wood cabinetry and surround. The kitchen is a 2-sided corner, 8 feet high, open to a magnificent view of Lake Michigan and the screened porch.  The 2 walls conceal the kitchen from the living area and entry.  A spectacular ceiling arching over 15 feet on the high side is a stunning connecting feature seen from everywhere.  General lighting is provided by pendants dropped to just below the 8' mark hiding them from the living room view and offering excellent work light.  The bar-height dining surface drops down to an island of cabinetry housing the sink.  This project was a true collaboration between the clients, architect, Brian Kidd of Pappageorge Haymes, interior designer (me) and lighting designer Ben White who specified all the fixtures and made many amazing contributions to the lighting plan.

A POCKET KITCHEN ON STORYBOOK LANE

A very large kitchen, this was price contained by using a ready-made line of cabinetry with great flexibility.  If the photo were better, you'd see the beautiful stone tops and backsplash.  I designed the black wood and smoky glass cabinetry on the viewer's right above the pass-thru and had it built locally. Dishes can be loaded directly from the dishwasher on the kitchen side and retrieved for table setting in the adjacent sunroom. Architects for the project were Lynn Myers and Dana Terp.

OPEN KITCHEN IN VICTORIAN BROWNSTONE

The lovely bones of this victorian residence were preserved when 15' were added to the entire rear of the building.  As part of the renovation, a new kitchen was required.  The design team decided to work with Mick De Giulio. As designer, I coordinated finishes, materials, lighting and appliances.  The kitchen table with built-in bench was fit into an awkward niche in the original architecture. Fabricating the custom table required coordination of steel, glass, and woodworking shops to review and sign off on my drawings so that the various pieces would assemble like a puzzle on site.  (See additional photos)

SUBTLE & SENSATIONAL

With white corian tile and backsplash, whitewashed cabinets and natural ash flooring laid on the diagonal, this subtle kitchen could be bland, but the dining pod sizzles.  Simplicity of materials in cooking and prep areas is so appealing because the food is focal.

The unexpected round turquoise top and honey-colored curved-back chairs command lots of attention.  The cylindar of the steel table base is repeated directly above in the light pendant.

Though the photos don’t do it justice, a repetitive element was a pin-stripe of natural blonde and brown wood. A striped veneer is recessed under the counter, in the pantry door and in the kick. The rug is woven as a stripe in the same colors, and trim on the roman shade is the same.

CUSTOM KITCHEN LOCALLY BUILT

There are many advantages to a custom designed kitchen and local fabrication.  Every inch of available space is usable because there are no standard sizes to work with.  Also, install is seamless when the same group that builds the cabinetry installs it. Custom work built locally also eliminates freight charges which can be substantial.  And, selection of materials and finishes is unlimited.  (Taupe veneer was laid up especially for this project.)  

Paint and plaster on the high rise ceilings was cracking, so we removed plaster and exposed the original concrete.  Limestone floors, selected in the same color palette as the concrete ceilings, were used throughout the residence for visual continuity.  A dark trim strip was recessed at the top of the cabinetry to conceal uneven ceilings, and repeated in the kick and under the stone tops.